Chapter 546: Exchange of Fire
The days of running from Imu's weapon were over.
Pluton was in Brett's hands now. After a period of maintenance, the ancient warship had earned its place back on a battlefield. If Imu wanted to trade fire, then they would trade fire.
The black ship rose through the deep water wrapped in Brett's flame clouds, ascending fast toward the surface.
Brett stood at the bow. Pluton's projection stood beside him.
"Eight hundred years ago, in the war against the Lunarians, the three ancient weapons faced that weapon together," Pluton said. His tone was even, but there was something underneath it - a settled, unshakeable certainty. "In practice, however, the direct engagement was always between that weapon and the two of us. Uranus fought it from the sky, and I provided fire support from below."
"Poseidon's power over the Sea Kings, devastating as it was, couldn't be brought to bear effectively in a direct artillery exchange."
"So do not worry, Brett. On firepower alone, we are not outmatched."
"That's all I needed to hear."
Brett's mouth curved.
Pluton and Imu's ultimate weapon were both the pinnacle of Bircan engineering - different projects, perhaps, but working from the same foundation. The weapon Imu wielded had been built by the full strength of the Bircan civilization. Pluton had been constructed by Bircan survivors after the civilization's fall. There was a gap in resources and scale. But in terms of the underlying technology, both ships occupied the same tier.
The weapon could not simply overwhelm Pluton.
And in raw firepower, the difference was marginal enough that Pluton could guarantee what Brett needed: stop Imu's bombardment, at least long enough to get the evacuation finished.
The cloud canopy carried the ship upward at speed.
The falling debris had mostly cleared, so Pluton's ascent was unobstructed. Though "unobstructed" was relative - the higher they climbed, the more violent the water became. They hadn't risen far before the flashes of ongoing explosions became visible through the water, and Brett felt the concussive waves pushing outward through the sea, hitting his body like a dull pressure across every surface.
"We're approaching the bombardment range," Brett said.
"I'm ready." Pluton's voice carried nothing but calm. "I can give Imu quite a surprise whenever you like."
Brett looked up.
"Then let's go."
The surface was a churning white mass of steam and turbulence. Imu's weapon had been drilling the same stretch of ocean repeatedly - blasting holes in the sea surface, then blasting the holes deeper before they could close. Column after column of white light struck the water and threw it skyward.
From the edge of his flying saucer, Imu looked out over the New World.
On both sides of his field of vision, two ragged cliffs rose from the water - the remnants of the Red Line, flanking the enormous gap he had punched through it. Between them, open sea stretched to the horizon.
From today, the first half and second half of the Grand Line were directly connected.
"I seem to have accomplished something rather significant," Imu remarked to no one in particular.
The people who had once been required to pass through Mariejois or Fish-Man Island to move between the two halves of the Grand Line would no longer need to. The passage was simply open now.
Though, on reflection, finding Mariejois or Fish-Man Island had become considerably more difficult. The former was ash. The latter was about to follow.
If someone wanted to visit either of those places, they would need to look in considerably different directions than they were accustomed to.
"What will you do now, Brett?"
Imu tilted his head slightly, the dark robes shifting. He was watching the sea below him, where the bombardment had churned the water into a continuous boil.
Fish-Man Island had become uninhabitable even if it wasn't directly destroyed. It was sitting within his range now, exposed. What would Brett's next move be?
He found he was genuinely curious.
The answer came faster than expected.
The already-boiling sea surface erupted again - but differently this time. A searing white beam punched upward out of the water without warning and struck the underside of Imu's ship hard.
"Hm?"
The speed of it had caught Imu off guard. His Observation Haki had read it coming, but the flying saucer was too large and too slow-turning to get clear in time. The explosion bloomed underneath the vessel and expanded upward, swallowing the entire lower half of the saucer in fire.
When the smoke cleared, the great ship descended from the flames.
The Lunarian barrier had held. The invisible field of force surrounding the vessel had absorbed the impact completely, and the saucer emerged essentially undamaged. The barrier shimmered with the residual energy of the hit, half-transparent rings spreading outward across its surface.
Imu remained exactly where he had been standing. But his voice, when he spoke, had changed.
"That cannon shot," he said, and something in the words carried a recognition that went eight centuries deep. "Now there is a sight I haven't seen in a long time."
Below, the black ship broke the surface and settled onto the churning sea with a heavy impact.
Imu looked down at it and laughed - not the controlled, half-amused sound from before, but something more open.
"Pluton. How many years has it been?"
"I have no fondness for this reunion." Pluton's voice rose from the full length of the warship beneath him, filling the air above the sea without effort. "I endured for one purpose alone."
"To carry on Joy Boy's will - and to see you destroyed, Imu."
"As it happens, the feeling is mutual." Imu's voice returned to its measured ease. "You, Joy Boy, Brett - as long as any of you exist on this sea, there is no peace for me."
"Then don't worry." Brett stepped forward to the bow. His expression settled into something unhurried and certain. "You'll be resting permanently very soon."
Imu laughed.
Full, unrestrained laughter.
"Then let's find out."
Beneath the flying saucer, light began to gather.
Simultaneously, at Pluton's gun deck, the same light began to build.
Both main cannons fired at once.
The exchange of fire had begun.